Without a Mark
by RandyPandy
Summary: Rua comes to Bruno for help with Ruka's Duel Board, and the two non-Signers of Team 5Ds end up learning a little about each other in the process. One-Shot. Canon compliant.


I found it interesting that, despite some of the similarities between Bruno and Rua, we never really saw the two of them interact with each other. They're the only two non-Signers in Team 5Ds! Thought this up at work and wrote a little one-shot of the two of them alone together. Hope you enjoy, and I hope you tell me what you think of it. :)

Given the fics that I've written about Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, it's clear who one of my favorite characters is. -cough- Oh well. He needs more fanfics anyways.

 **Disclaimer:** I own none of the characters in this work.

* * *

It looked it was going to be a quiet day in Poppo Time.

Bruno stretched from where he was sitting on the computer, clicking through articles. There were still too many things that he was unable to understand, and while there was no one around, he was going to do some research on current events. Perhaps he would find something interesting.

And if not, he could always look up some blueprints online to adapt for his own use when working with the other's D-Wheels.

Crow had gone back to the Satellite to check up on the children that he had been looking after. Bruno smiled at the thought; Crow was a good person, and really did his best to look after those children.

Aki was was busy with her homework. He'd occasionally helped her with Physics, though she often preferred to go to Yusei for help, but she didn't seem to need any of it today if she wasn't around.

Yusei and Jack were not even in Neo Domino City. They'd gotten an email from someone named Bomber asking Jack to come. Yusei had decided to accompany him, and Bruno had no idea how long the two of them were going to be gone. Perhaps it was something important. Bruno was sure that they would tell him if it turned out to be extremely important.

Sometimes, the amnesiac male sometimes wondered if there was someone that was waiting for him to come home. Who were the people important to him? Right now, of course, it was the rest of Team 5Ds. But surely he had had a life before he'd washed up onshore. A good portion of his memories were still gone, but he knew that he _had_ to protect Yusei, no matter what. He just didn't know why, only that Yusei had never met him before.

As for Rua and Ruka...

"Yuseeeeei!"

Oh, that was Rua, for sure. No one else had such a distinctive, excited voice. Well, it looked like he wasn't going to get anymore work done. Bruno closed the article that he had been reading and swiveled his chair around as the young, green-haired boy bounded inside, carrying a backpack.

"Hey Bruno!" Rua grinned at him. "Have you seen Yusei? I wanted to ask him something!"

"Erm, actually, Yusei left early this morning," Bruno said, rubbing the back of his head. "He's going to be gone for awhile, I believe." He didn't know the specifics of why Yusei had left, so that was all he was able to tell Rua.

The preteen's face fell, flopping down on the nearest chair. "Aw man, I was hoping he'd be here! Ruka's with Patty, and I wanted to surprise her- ah! Maybe you can help me, Bruno!"

"Me?" Bruno raised his eyebrows.

Nodding, Rua opened the backpack up, revealing a white and pink device. His sister's Duel Board. "Yeah, I wanted to practice Riding Duels with Ruka again, but I'm scared that something like _that_ is going to happen again," Rua grumbled.

"...That?" Bruno blinked.

Rua's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! We hadn't met you yet! See, Lucciano, one of those Yliaster guys, pretended to be our classmate and made this for Ruka - but he controlled it and made her duel with him and Ruka and I nearly died!"

Not Placido, the guy that had been responsible for the accident he was in just before he lost his memory, but one of the other two. And likely that tiny, crazy one, from what Rua was saying. Frowning, Bruno picked up the Duel Board and examined it. It seemed innocent enough, but he knew that Rua, despite how excitable he could get, wouldn't lie about something like this.

"Man, I hate that Lucciano," he grumbled. "Attacking Ruka, and brushing me off whenever I tried to protect her just because I'm not a Signer! Doesn't matter anyways... all I do is tag along and make things difficult for Ruka and Yusei and all of them. I probably wouldn't make a good Signer."

Bruno connected the Duel Board to the computer, pulling up its schematics. If it would bring Rua some peace of mind, he could do this for the kids. "Does it bother you that you're not a Signer?"

The boy slumped in his chair. "Yeah. It just feels weird. Ruka and Yusei and Jack and Crow and Aki are so cool and powerful and can do things... and then there's me. Rua, who can't win a duel and just tags along and is dimissed because he's not a Signer by everyone."

"Ruka loves you," Bruno reminded him as he examined the Duel Board. "She doesn't think of you as a burden. And neither do Yusei and the others. And Rua, did you forget?"

Rua looked up at him at Bruno's amused smile. "What?"

"You know what you want to do in your life. You want to protect Ruka. That sort of things takes a good and strong heart, to put someone else above you."

"Of course I want to protect Ruka! She's my sister! And there's all these creeps out to get her just because she's a Signer!" Rua said, nearly bouncing in his chair.

Bruno wanted to chuckle, but he restrained himself, instead just smiling. "And besides... I'm not a Signer either."

Rua's eyes widened, as if he had forgotten that completely; Bruno wouldn't be surprised if he had. "Oh yeah. You aren't a Signer, aren't you? But you're still _cool_. You can do things with machines that even _Yusei_ can't!"

A few more clicks, and then Bruno noticed some coding on the Duel Board. "Oh... I think I found the problem. Just give me a few moments and I can fix this for you."

"Yes! Thanks!" Rua jumped out of his chair, peering at Bruno's computer screen. "Geez, I don't understand any of this..."

This caused Bruno to chuckle; poor Rua. "It's fine. I'm sure you'll pick it up, quickly enough."

"To think, you've lost your memory, and you still know how to do all this... you must have been an amazing mechanic."

Bruno thought of Delta Eagle, safely hidden under the waves, and of himself. His body, despite how human it looked and acted - he had to eat and go to the bathroom, for god's sake - was not human at all. He doubted that he was just a good mechanic.

"I remember working on a D-Wheel," he admitted to Rua. "I believe it was mine."

"Huh, you do?" Rua peered at the Duel Board again. "Hey, wait, you remember some things now?" He looked excited again, and Bruno mentally winced. Had he opened up a can of worms? Rua was a curious kid, and there were some things that he did want to keep hidden.

Well, why not. It wasn't as if Rua could use the information to look him up, anyways. Maybe it would help the kid warm up to him and stop feeling so bad about himself. Bruno gave a nod.

"I've... been having some flashbacks." Bruno bit his lip. "I remember, I was in an accident involving my D-Wheel. It was night, and I was near the beach I washed up on. There was someone next to me. I think they were an opponent." Placido had not been his friend, for sure. "There was a cat in the road that they were going to hit. I shoved the other D-Wheel aside to avoid hitting it, but lost control... everything went black after that."

"Must've been a nasty person to not even look for you," Rua grumbled, leaning against the desk with his head on his arms. "So you were a Duelist?"

"I believe so," Bruno nodded. "I think I ran a Machine-type deck."

"Huh? Really?" Rua brightened. "I run a Machine-type deck too! Most of my cards are from the Deformer series, but then there's Power Tool Dragon - he's my favorite! I sometimes dream that he's the sixth Signer Dragon, but that's just a dream. What was your Deck like?"

Well, he couldn't tell Rua that he ran a Tech Genus Deck! The other had seen 'the man with the sunglasses' use the Tech Genus cards. "I can't remember exactly what I had," he said. "I'm sorry."

Rua deflated a little. "Oh well, I guess it was too much to hope for." He was quiet for a few moments. "Must be scary to not know who you are or what you want to do with your life."

The blue-haired male tapped a few keys, rewriting some code on the Duel Board. "It's okay, Rua. I know what I want to do with my life already."

"You do? What is it?"

Bruno paused in his typing, staring at the screen but not actually looking at it. He turned towards Rua. "We're a lot alike, it looks like. We run Machine decks, we're not Signers... and we want to protect the people that are important to us. You want to protect Ruka. I... I want to protect Yusei."

He had to protect Yusei, no matter what. That was his _mission_ , the task that had been embedded into his own head as the Ultimate Important Thing, even over his own life. If he failed to protect Yusei, then he was a failure. It was as simple as that. He didn't even remember who had given him that mission, or why - heck, he didn't even remember his own name. But his very being was full of that desire.

"Is that so..." Rua looked intrigued, but he didn't question him further on it. "I guess I can understand. Yusei is really cool, and nice, and you both get along really well."

Biting his lip, Bruno turned, looking at Rua in the eyes with an extremely serious expression. "I'll do anything to protect Yusei, Rua. Anything. Even if it means sacrificing the life that I was lucky enough to keep after my accident."

Rua's eyes were wide, and Bruno wondered for a moment if he had unnerved the boy. But he was nodding in understanding. "I see... that's exactly what I want to do for Rua. If I have to, I will give _my_ life so that she can keep hers."

Bruno could tell that Rua meant it, with every fiber of his being. He didn't just believe it; he would _do_ it. It wasn't even embedded in his head that he should do something like this - just sheer determination and force of will. "Rua," he finally said. "You are one of the most admirable beings on this planet."

The boy's face turned completely red, and he quickly stood up. "Um- well-"

A slight ping sounded on the computer screen, and Bruno moved to disconnect the Duel Board. "Alright, this Duel Board should be fixed. Ruka can use this safely without having to worry about someone controlling it." He smiled at Rua.

Brightening and clearly relieved at the change of subject, Rua grabbed the Duel Board and stuffed it in the backpack again. "Thanks so much, Bruno!" He grinned. "You're so cool, too!"

Bruno chuckled, standing up and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "You're welcome, Rua. Have fun with your Riding Duels with Ruka!"

"Yeah!" Rua grinned at him, putting the backpack on and stepping towards the door. "Hey Bruno, maybe when you find your Deck, we can duel too! I always like dueling other people, especially my friends!"

"Sure," Bruno nodded with a smile, watching as Rua bounded out of the door. The smile disappeared from his face as soon as Rua was gone.

"Here's to hoping that we both live to do that, Rua."


End file.
